The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) proposes to amend the phytosanitary treatment regulations that apply to cold treatment facilities, fumigation treatments and compliance agreements. This proposed rule would establish generic criteria for new and existing cold treatment facilities making the addition of approved facilities easier, standardizing requirements for facilities, and eliminating the need for separate rulemaking associated with the addition of new facilities in Southern and Western states. The amendments proposed will do the following:

Amend the fruit cutting and inspection requirements in the cold treatment regulations in order to expand cutting and inspection to commodities that have been treated for a wider variety of pests of concern;

Add requirements concerning the establishment of compliance agreements for all entities that operate fumigation facilities;

Harmonize language concerning State compliance with facility establishment and parameters for the movement of consignments from the port of entry or points of origin in the United States to the treatment facility in the irradiation treatment regulations with proposed language in the cold treatment regulations.

The proposed rule affects multiple paragraphs in 7 CFR Part 305. The proposed rule will be published June 30, 2016 and comments will be accepted for 60 days ending August 29, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:

Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2013-0081 or in our reading room, which is located in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 799-7039 before coming.